Product Pioneer: Macadamia Natural Oil

OILS HAVE SOARED IN POPULARITY, both as stand-alone products and as the basic ingredient in hair care, styling and treatment lines. Macadamia Natural Oil has grown rapidly since its launch three years ago and company CEO John Fasan spoke to MODERN about the unique qualities of this brand.

MS: TELL US ABOUT MACADAMIA NATURAL OIL PRODUCTS.

JF: As a 25-year veteran of the salon industry, I have been involved with several brands. My goal is always to be a pioneer and, in the case of Macadamia Natural Oil it was to create a brand that represents the next generation of oils. The general market is always made better by new and innovative products that improve upon what already exists.

Macadamia Natural Oil products contain oil from the Macadamia nut which is light and easily absorbed. It closely mimics the body’s natural oil, so it provides better conditioning and is more readily penetrated into the hair.

Argan oil is great, but MNO products combine argan and macadamia oils to give stylists the next generation of oilbased products. MNO fits within the categories of hair care, styling and conditioning, but in May, we will be launching Flawless, a unique product that is really a category unto itself.

Flawless is an aerosol that has the consistency of shaving gel and contains no surfactants. It cleanses, conditions, untangles and prepares the hair for blow-drying. Flawless also reduces drying time up to 50 percent by reducing water molecules so the heat from thermal tools penetrates faster. We’re excited because it is a great new innovation that is perfect for the shampoo bar, works on all types of hair and is great for color-treated hair.

In January, we launched our new straightening system Straight Wear. Straightening and smoothing systems are another category that has exploded. The chemists who worked on developing Straight Wear created a system that is totally safe with results that last up to four months.

MS: IS MACADAMIA NATURAL OIL AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE?

JF: In three years, the company has become an international success story that has captured the interest of stylists around the world. MNO is in 80 countries. In January 2011 we opened an office, warehouse and distribution center in Holland to service our European market. We also opened a new facility early this year in Chatsworth, California to serve North and South America and the Pacific Rim countries.

MS: YOU HAVE A STRONG ANTIDIVERSION PROGRAM. HOW DO YOU IMPLEMENT THAT?

JF: On our website, we tell stylists how they can help us fight diversion. We track down and cut off distributors who divert our products. The fact is, you can’t find everyone, and no matter how hard you try, you might find your products in mass outlets, next to other professional brands—it is just what is happening. We instruct salon professionals how to inform us if they see MNO in unauthorized outlets, but most importantly, we align ourselves with the best distributors and we make it easy for them to do business with us. We work very carefully on our distributor contracts and we do not impose quotas. We have the best distributors in place in each area and by removing unrealistic quotas, we remove the temptation to divert. My focus is not as much on the dollars but on increasing our market share.

MS: HOW ARE YOU CONTINUING TO CREATE BUZZ ABOUT MNO?

JF: As part of our marketing plans, we are committed to a substantial trade advertisting campaign to educate stylists about this next generation of oils.

We have an incredible number of videos on YouTube that have been placed by salon professionals and by beauty bloggers who love our products. Of course, we are active on social media and have thousands of fans. It’s a real worldwide following.

As we expand our lines, especially with Straight Wear, we have strong education programs in place and provide a series of web-based product knowledge videos.

We are happy to announce that stylists can expect a new oil-based hair color line from MNO later this year. Stay tuned.